191. I Was an Adventuress 1940
- Music
Ballet music by Peter Ilyitch Tschaikovsky (primarily from Swan Lake, Act II, Op. 20, 1875-76)
- Choreography
George Balanchine
- Production
Twentieth-Century Fox. Produced by Darryl F. Zanuck. Associate Producer: Nunnally Johnson. Directed by Gregory Ratoff. Screenplay by Karl Tunberg, Don Ettlinger, and John O’Hara. Musical direction by David Buttolph. Cinematography by Edward Cronjager and Leon Shamroy. Film editing by Francis P. Lyon. Art direction by Richard Day and Joseph C. Wright. Set decoration by Thomas Little.
- Cast
Countess Tanya Vronsky, Vera Zorina; Paul Vernay, Richard Greene; André Desormeaux, Erich von Stroheim; Polo, Peter Lorre; and others
Ballet: Swan Queen, Vera Zorina; Prince, Lew Christensen; Evil One, Charles Laskey; 18 swans. (Laskey and Christensen were uncredited.)
Performance Type
Film
See Also
-
75. Swan Lake,
262. Don Quixote and Swan Lake (Black Swan) Pas de Deux,
285. Swan Lake,
331. Pas de Deux (Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux),
367. Le Lac des Cygnes
Note
An extremely abbreviated, rechoreographed version of Swan Lake, Act II, using such techniques as slow motion in jumps and fog for atmosphere that were developed with the choreographer’s collaboration. Some of the ideas for the corps de ballet were later used in the finale of Balanchine’s New York City Ballet version of Swan Lake [285]. There is a rehearsal sequence with Zorina in which the brief role of the Orchestra Leader is played by Balanchine, although credited to Fortunio Bonanova (a character actor, perhaps originally assigned the role).
Recorded Performances
Videos/DVD
2004, Kultur, Balanchine (SWAN LAKE ballet [excerpt])
Film
Released 1940
Beth Genné, Arlene Croce, and David Vaughan (Fortunio Bonanova)
